1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate generally to a driver of an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a driver system of image forming apparatuses capable of automatically managing the image forming apparatuses and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As inexpensive personal computers (PC) have been developed with advances in PC manufacturing technology, computers have been used extensively. Accordingly, peripheral apparatuses of the computers are also used extensively. Peripheral apparatuses include image forming apparatuses, such as printers, scanners, and multifunction devices.
In addition, various network technologies are used to connect a plurality of PCs to each other over a network. In environments having a plurality of image forming apparatuses, the image forming apparatuses are connected to the network, so that multiple users can use the image forming apparatuses. In order to manage the plurality of image forming apparatuses, a user must inspect each of the image forming apparatuses individually.
For example, the user checks the amount of use of consumption goods (such as toner, ink, paper, etc.) so that, when the consumption goods are running low, the user can request a supplier to provide more consumption goods. When errors occur in one or more of the image forming apparatuses, the user directly contacts the supplier to inform the supplier of the errors and to request servicing.
However, when the plurality of image forming apparatuses are managed by the above method, the plurality of image forming apparatuses cannot be managed effectively. Further, the user is required to inspect each of the image forming apparatuses individually. Therefore, it is necessary to automatically manage the plurality of image forming apparatuses so as to improve the efficiency of use of the image forming apparatuses.